Services such as “Pinterest” and “Clipboard” exist which allow people to use browser software to publicly or privately “clip” webpages. The clipped webpages are stored as screen-shots on what are sometimes called “boards;” the boards are webpages accessed by users and may include annotations (“notes”) by the user, in addition to the screen-shots. Access to a board may be controlled by user- or system-set permissions, which may require a particular login (in the case of a private board) or which may allow any login (or no login) to access the board (in the case of a public board).
Such services, however, are limited to the types of content which may be clipped on the boards and may only include a screen-shot or video capture of the clipped content. For example, the screen-shot of a clipped webpage may not have live links and may be relatively non-interactive compared to the original webpage, effectively making a copy of the original webpage, but without preserving the original webpage's links and without updating or archiving dynamic webpage content, such as interactive calendars. This may not be a copyright issue if the board is private and/or a copyright fair-use exception applies, but if the board is public, the copy may then result in copyright infringement as well as revenue (such as advertising revenue) for the operator of the clipboard service without consent from or compensation to the copyright holder. Other services may include a first frame in the public or private user board, which first frame includes notes entered by a user, which first frame may be categorized by the user or by the system, and which first frame may include a screen-shot of the original webpage or webpage content. The original webpage may then be linked to, as it then exists as a “live” webpage, within a second frame. However, and particularly for webpages with a lot of content, it can then be difficult to identify the portion clipped in the first frame within the live webpage in the second frame.
Needed is a system which allows users to link to and note specific portions of a webpage via clipping, wherein clips allow later access to a cached or live version of the webpage, and which identifies which portion of the webpage was clipped.